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The chances are there will be some sort of deal. It won’t be Chequers. It will either be like the relationship Norway has with the EU – a softer Brexit, or it will be like Canada – a hard Brexit.

The problem for Mrs May, is I can’t see either getting a majority in Parliament. There is a third possibility – a fudge or a “blind Brexit”. That would involve “parking” the UK in a Norway type relationship for the transition, while negotiating the terms of a harder departure by the end. But I don’t think a majority of MPs would support that either. It would put the country in limbo, with no clear outcome, while prolonging the uncertainty, which the public are already fed up with.

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If Mrs May can’t get a deal through Parliament, she could call a general election. But that would require Tory MPs to vote for one. A general election fought on the terms of Brexit would tear the Tory Party apart. So they’re not going to do that. Some hard Brexiteers claim that the only alternative to a deal is to crash out without one. But there’s a huge majority in the Commons against “no deal” and I would expect Parliament to find a mechanism to prevent this.

Prime Minister Theresa May (Image: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)

The only rational way out in such circumstances would be for the Prime Minister to say to the public: “I’ve tried my best. But Parliament has rejected my deal and will not support no deal. You, the people, started this process off, I am now asking you to resolve it.”

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More projects shaping the future of Devon

This is why the chances of a “People’s Vote” or another referendum are growing all the time. More sensible Conservative MPs, like Totnes’s Sarah Wollaston, have already called for one. The trades unions have moved in that direction. And, with a record number of local Labour parties, including Exeter, sending anti hard Brexit motions to our forthcoming conference, I expect my party to move on this, if not at conference itself, when the time comes.

Brexit sceptics call for a people's vote

Finally, ousting Mrs May, as some hard Brexiteer Tories want solves nothing. The parliamentary arithmetic would be the same. Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees Mogg would have even less chance of assembling a Commons majority and would probably split the Tory party.

This is why, if I were a betting man, I’d put money on another Referendum, after which, can we please be left to get on with our lives?